Figure Eighting the Marsh

I thought about several places to head for, and I settles on a return to my local Wheeler Marsh, mainly because of the large number of Canada Geese that I saw on my last trip. I don't think that I will ever get enough of seeing a chevron of Geese passing high overhead, their honking audible so much so that I often hear them before they are sighted.

It is about 40F with a thick overcast and almost no wind. High tide is just about now and the marsh is fully flooded. 

I find two small flocks of Canada Geese, about twenty in each, right at my put-in. They don't worry about me too much until I start carrying the canoe down to the water. Then, they fly off, which flushes another forty that are a bit upriver and a second group of forty that are downriver. Half of them follow the shoreline south, half of them follow the shoreline north. I paddle off following, more or less, the shoreling in a clockwise direction. When I get to Milford Point, I decide to cut back diagonally, taking advantage of the high water. I'll paddle the marsh in a distorted figure eight. I flush a flock of 2 dozen Widgeons from near the point. Spot a few Buffleheads as well.

As I head towards the central phragmites patch, I hear someone talking. Only then do I notice the hunter's blind, which is still a 150 yards off. I give them plenty of space and continue. The blind may explain why I saw the Geese near the put-in as well as their flight paths. Most of the outer reaches of the marsh are a no hunting zone because of nearby houses.

Red Throated Loon

I paddle past the patch and head towards Cat Island. Find a Red Throated Loon fishing the channel by the island. I follow the north edge of the island, spotting a half dozen white tail deer on the island's ridge line. I circle the island and coming out, find the Loon again, this time downriver. It is fishing by swimming back and forth across the channel. This area is shallow enough that it goes to mudflat at most low tides, so any fish moving through on the current are vertically restricted.

I take my back channel sneak upriver, then return downriver using the diagonal off of Nell's channel. And with that, I call it a fine day.